🎒✏️ First Day of School
Welcome back to class! Let’s unpack our project’s successes, mishaps, and opportunities for growth like we’re starting a new school year. Grab your backpack—it's time to share stories, learn together, and set new goals!
Template Columns
🏅 Gold Stars
Highlight the achievements and positive moments from our 'first day' experiences.
Base column: What Went Well📝 Homework Troubles
Share the issues and unexpected challenges we faced, just like tricky homework assignments.
Base column: What Went Wrong📚 New Lessons to Learn
Suggest ways we can improve, like adding new skills to our school day toolkit.
Base column: What We Want to ImproveAbout this template
The First Day of School retrospective uses school-themed prompts to encourage open sharing about what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve moving forward.
When to use this template
This template is ideal for teams kicking off a new project phase, recently coming back together (after a break or re-org), or seeking a fun, engaging way to reflect after a milestone.
How to facilitate
Welcome everyone with the school-year theme and explain the playful approach to reflection.
Introduce the three columns—Gold Stars, Homework Troubles, and New Lessons to Learn—and clarify what each represents.
Give participants time to add notes under each column, focusing on past achievements, challenges, and ideas for improvement.
Invite team members to read out or summarize their contributions, encouraging storytelling and discussion.
Facilitate a group conversation about key themes, making space for questions and clarifications.
Collaboratively prioritize improvement ideas from the New Lessons to Learn column and agree on concrete next steps.
Wrap up by celebrating team efforts and setting intentions for continuous learning.
Pro Tips
Start with an icebreaker related to 'back-to-school' memories to boost engagement.
Encourage team members to be candid about their struggles—it helps build trust and normalizes learning from mistakes.
Follow up on actions from the 'New Lessons to Learn' column in your next retrospective to demonstrate progress.
Assign a rotating 'class monitor' to help facilitate and keep energy high during remote sessions.
FAQ
What if the 'school' theme feels too light for my team?
Adjust the language or framing to suit your team’s culture while still encouraging open reflection—it's the structure and psychological safety that matter most.
How can I ensure everyone participates, especially quieter team members?
Encourage anonymous or written contributions first, then invite voluntary sharing. Use round-robin prompts if needed.
How do we track the improvements we agree on?
Assign clear action items and owners for each idea, and review their progress in the next retro.
Want a custom template?
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At a glance
- Duration
40–55 min
- Team Size
4-10 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
What Went Well, What Went Wrong, What We Want to Improve
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective